“White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said initially the president wanted to move in concert with Congress but decided to go ahead alone after being rebuffed by Democratic leaders and a relentless upward spike in energy prices.” [emphasis mine]

Bush will go it alone? Say it ain’t so…

In all seriousness, the executive ban on offshore drilling, opposed until recently by his little brother, was enacted by George H. W. Bush in 1990. Apparently the reasons Bush Sr. put this executive ban in place no longer are a factor, because I’m sure that Bush Jr. spent lots of time strategery-ing this out in his mind.

This lifting of the executive ban is honestly just a political stunt and will have little to no effect since the Congress itself has it’s own ban. Plus even if the congressional ban were lifted today it would take 5 to 10 years for any of that oil to make it to market. Of course, the environmental impact would be felt almost immediately.